Pesticide Spraying on Farms Impacts Neighboring Residents

May 16, 2007 - THE SPRAYING starts at night, tractors pulling fans that blow the neurotoxin over the tops of dense, leafy orange trees.

The trees surround this tiny farm community deep in the San Joaquin Valley. The chlorpyrifos — banned for domestic use since 2000 yet still used widely on crops — falls like a lethal mist, first paralyzing, then killing insects seeking a portion of Tulare County's $4.3 billion in agriculture sales.

But the nights are hot, the fans are powerful, and the mist travels.

And so, invariably, swamp coolers straining against the smoggy heat pull the poison into Lindsay homes.

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